Pakistan's two biggest political parties yesterday signalled they would back President Pervez Musharraf's call for national unity amid the looming crisis over threatened US military action against neighboring Afghanistan.
Despite concerns that a conflict could consolidate the military's grip on power, both the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) indicated they would not support protests by Islamic parties.
The president, who has offered the country's airspace and logistical support for any US attack, said in a national television broadcast on Wednesday night that he had been forced to choose between saving Pakistan or saving the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan.
Musharraf urged the country to put the national interest first and resist the Islamic parties' calls for Pakistanis to side with their fellow Muslims in Afghanistan.
"I'm the chief of the Pakistan army and my first priority is the defense of Pakistan. The rest follows after," he said. "Some elements want to take advantage of this [crisis] to pursue personal or party agendas. They want to create anarchy and damage the country."
PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar acknowledged Pakistan had little option but to go along with the international community or face diplomatic isolation and the worsening of a severe economic crisis.
"We have to support the international fight against terrorism for the maintenance of law and order," Babar said.
Raja Zafarul Haq, the chairman of the PML, said US attacks would carry enormous risks for the security of Pakistan but also recognized that Musharraf had little choice but to side with Washington.
"It [a military attack] will have long-term implications and Pakistan may end up facing a situation on two fronts. The eastern border [with India] is already unsafe and now the western border [with Afghanistan] will be a problem.
"But obviously Musharraf took this decision under duress."
On the streets of Peshawar, not far from the Afghan border, hundreds of Islamic militants yesterday burned effigies of US President George W. Bush.
They shouted "Long live Osama bin Laden" and vowed a jihad, or holy war, against both America and the Pakistani government.
Additional protests were planned for yesterday and militants have called a nationwide strike today.
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and